Treatment of zinc ores by the precipitation process.



' UNITED STATES gnnr OFFICE,

" PANY, on NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TREATMENT OF ZINC ORES BY THE PRECIPITATION PROCESS.

975,217. I v a Specification of Letters Yatent. P t t 3, 191() I Drawing. Application filed December a, 1909. Serial No. 53,592. l

"' To all whom it may concern: I nets having a certain intrinsic Value, and

'. Be it known that I, ADoLrHE DnsGRAz, enwhich, 'in addition, are not generally found gineor, residing-at 66 Sedanstrasse, at Hanoon thespot or eveu in the neighborhood of ver, Germany, a citizen of the Swiss Repubthe mine. -It IS therefore mostadvantu- *5 lie, have invented a. new and seful Treatgeous to do away, Whenever possible, with ment of Zinc Ores by the Precipitation the use of said substances, the cost price and Process, of which the following is a-specificonveyance of which, though small, are suf- @gim, ficient to be considered; and to substitute .In vario s previou pat nt-, it has b materials of n0 value, and the removal of '10 shown-that it is possibleto replace, indus- -Wh10h 1S de 1b 6, Chare frequently at trially, the indirect 510w and progressivg'res hand 01 are found In proximity toth'e'mine. action of carbon on roasted blends, which. Leadslag, that is the product of the reduc E0811 be represented by the equation ing of lead ores .in blastfurnaces, is such a o 7n material. It has been discovered that such 15. +J slags make an excellent dissolvent for blends, I by vthe instantaneous and direct reaction of that is, allow of fluidification at the same preoipitation or of substitution relatively low tem eratures as the bodies.

v previously used, an that the blends in that I v v state offers the same facilities for being at 20 bein a metal having greater afiinity for tacked by iron as when treated by the other sulfur t an zinc), on condition that the dissehents. Said slaggth'e composition of kl bg 'Q ghtt0a'flu1d s tate O fi l dlfipd which varies according to circumstances, is 1 1 1 6 Presence 0 -r l g i f w h however formed of certain principal elethis end, several processes obtaining this renients Whihv are found in the majority of. 2 flD Y -l y b e de$0l 1bed3311 0f P118111 them; it has. been found that slags c'onstibased mp oy e 9 a tuted of silica. and -alumina, oxi dsjof iron '5 QM for t Z 9 0 6; salidlssolvent' 1s a and manganese, of lime and various-sulfide, 1.3 ,b Q m x ll e 0f S stance C pe-- give good results. In addition, lead slugs "m ymgl the blenflie t la e y usually contain zinc in greater orless quan- 9 !9 mp r nd o b rt m p tity; now,*by reason of the fused state-said oval and 'characterlstic-state in Wh1ch 1t bezin wh th r it b i th f r f lfid, 'Q Y fienslptllvfl $1 astlon 'Q i oxid orsilicate, is attacked by the re-act'ing V reacting metal preferal ly sald metaljis m t l; q e tl inde d tly of the Arron-1n thestate f'c s I zinc in the ore treated,"the zinc held in the l 3 1A a Q f an e y b (1 slag is also recovered'which, up to now, -01 .esl m fl s') allv f d PH could not be industrially and economically orpf manganese was proposed as a d?!" extracted by known metallurgical processes Q OI I il n i 913831.116 1 3 P on account/of itssmall quant1ty said slags 113% w t t e two letter Qx fii f gh also contain, lead which is recipitated 1n t llme and h same Way and can be'collecte separately. u

l dQl s P 9 PQ As an example and to better fix ideas,"lead 19in" n -9 1 P Iron, was mdlcated slags, such as those of BrokenvHill, may be a d s l en sard nur u e allowed g cited as beinga good dissolventof blends; wpe en f t/ P d t of heree nthe composition of these approximates the" (8 Ll-911 thlssecond mixture W'EL'SdISQOVQI'Qd following:

as being approximatively of the following composltionz I 1 SiO, 24

F80 -Q 44 I 1 CaO 4.75 M O 0. 5 A1 0 5 ZnO 15 Pb0 'Sulfids, as

The slugs of Lauriuin may also be pointed Independently of the use of ordinary fluxes necessitated by the 'gangue special -to each ore,'the processis reduced to the additionto the blende of lead slags which allow of; its 'fluidification' and consequent attack .by the re-acting metal, preferably cast iron;

sometimes said lead slags may facilitate the fusion of the gangue of the blende, which 85 1 which are necessary to bring the ore to the should be taken into consideration when determining amount. of flux required. The details of carrying out the process,

' proper fluid condit1on-a1idinto contact with the reagent; may be efiected by any suitable apparatus and the operation may be either continuous or intermittent. H owever, it may be stated that the method of pre'melting indicated previously .for the treatment of of any known convenient pattern,the-blende, with the addition of a proper quantity of lead slag, is melted; the quantity of slag depends on its nature and on that of the gangue of the ore: said' pre-melting is preferably done in a closed vessel and allows of the gangue' bein separated from the fluidified ore so that this latter is alone introduced into the precipitating chamber conveniently fed with the re-acting' metal; under these conditions, the zinc ore treated and the zinc compounds of the slag are-energetically,

rapidly and completely attacked. The premelting and the precipitation which follows it can be, as has been stated, effected either with continuous tent ones.

. Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same 1s to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:

1. A process for the extraction of zinc from zinc sulfid ores which consists in emfrom z nc sulfid ores, whichconsists in heating the ore with a suitablequantity of lead slagfand a suitable flux until said ore beapparatus or by interniitcomes fluid, then precipitating the zinc from the fluid ore by a re-acting metal having a greater allinity for sulfur than has zinc.

3. A process for the extraction .of zinc from zinc sulfid ores, which consists in heating the ore with a suitable quantity of lead slag and a suitable flux until said ore becomes fluid, then precipitating the-zinc from the fluid ore by the addition of castiron.

In testimon whereof I allix my signature in presence 0 similar ores, ofiers, with lead slags, the same. advantagesas with peroxidof iron'as a dis-' solvent; therefore,- generally, the mode of operation is as follows: in'a melting furnace 1 two witnesses. c ADOLPHE DESGRAZ.- Witnesses: I

- W. W. TEHORE',

- R.-PA-UL THoMPsoN. 

